More than a hundred and twenty years after its founding, the Venice Biennale continues to captivate the art world every two years with the spectacle of a truly global survey of the very best of contemporary art.

In 2017 the Biennale will include representation from more than eighty invited nations, all showcasing their leading artists in national pavilions and exposition spaces. The prestigious Golden and Silver Lions, among the most coveted visual arts prizes in the world, will be awarded during the exhibition.

About Geoffrey Farmer

Geoffrey Farmer is an artist known for his laboriously crafted projects of epic proportions combining theatrical techniques with historically sourced material. Farmer was born in 1967 in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he continues to live and work. He attended the San Francisco Art Institute in 1990–91 and the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 1992. Over his twenty-year career, his installations have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the world at venues including the Louvre in Paris, the Tate Modern in London, dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel, Germany, the Migros Museum für Gegenwartkunst in Zurich, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the National Gallery of Canada. For his exhibition at the 57th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia, Farmer will install A way out of the mirror in the Canada Pavilion and its beautiful Giardini gardens.

About the Canada Pavilion

Founded in 1895, La Biennale di Venezia is the oldest and most widely recognized contemporary art event in the world. While the Biennale’s roots are in the visual arts, its scope now encompasses theatre, music, dance, film and architecture.

The International Art Exhibition runs from May to November in alternating years. The opening weeks of the exhibition see the “who’s who” of the art world assemble in Venice. Artists, museum directors, curators, gallerists, collectors and journalists from influential global newspapers, magazines, television and Web media are drawn to the Biennale to see acclaimed contemporary artists from around the world and to take the pulse of the international art scene. In 2015 eighty-nine countries participated in the Biennale’s 56th International Art Exhibition, which drew over half a million visitors.

Canada’s representation at the Biennale has played a part in shaping the role and place of Canadian contemporary art within international circles. The Canada Pavilion has helped to launch the international careers of many of our most celebrated artists, including Emily Carr, David Milne, Alfred Pellan, Paul-Émile Borduas, Jean Paul Riopelle, Jean Paul Lemieux, Alex Colville, Guido Molinari, Michael Snow, General Idea, Liz Magor, Geneviève Cadieux, Rodney Graham, Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, Jana Sterbak, Rebecca Belmore, David Altmejd, Mark Lewis, Steven Shearer, Shary Boyle and BGL.

Located in the heart of the historic Giardini di Castello, the Canada Pavilion boasts one of the most desirable locations in Venice. The Venice Biennale is the only international visual arts exhibition to which Canada sends official representation.

About the Exhibition Curator

Kitty Scott is the Carol and Morton Rapp Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada. Previously she was Director of Visual Arts at The Banff Centre, Canada; Chief Curator at the Serpentine Gallery, UK; and Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Canada. Scott’s extensive resume includes exhibitions of artists such as Francis Alÿs, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, Paul Chan, Peter Doig, Theaster Gates, Brian Jungen & Duane Linklater, Janice Kerbel, Ragnar Kjartansson, Scott McFarland, Silke Otto-Knapp, Frances Stark and Ron Terada. She was a core agent for Germany’s dOCUMENTA (13) in 2012. Scott has written extensively on contemporary art for catalogues, books and journals and edited the publication Raising Frankenstein: Curatorial Education and Its Discontents (2010). She regularly lectures at art schools and curatorial programs throughout North America.

About the National Gallery of Canada

The National Gallery of Canada is home to the most important collections of historical and contemporary Canadian art. The Gallery also maintains Canada’s premier collection of European Art from the 14th to the 21st centuries, as well as important works of American, Asian and Indigenous Art and renowned international collections of prints, drawings and photographs. In 2015, the National Gallery of Canada established the Canadian Photography Institute, a global multidisciplinary research centre dedicated to the history, evolution and future of photography. Created in 1880, the National Gallery of Canada has played a key role in Canadian culture for well over a century. Among its principal missions is to increase access to excellent works of art for all Canadians. For more information please visit gallery.ca.